Hopefully this will not set back Orbital's schedule too much.This - and SpaceX's delays - is why it is so important to have two contracted cargo delivery services.
Quote from: Lars_J on 05/22/2014 10:46 pmHopefully this will not set back Orbital's schedule too much.This - and SpaceX's delays - is why it is so important to have two contracted cargo delivery services.Hopefully Congress in its not-so-infinite wisdom learns from this and lets NASA continue with having at least two CC providers...~Jon
Latest rev of the article, with confirmation from Aeroject Rocketdyne:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/05/antares-aj-26-engine-fails-stennis-testing/Importantly, no one was injured.
I assume this will expedite a decision on possibly using an ATK (Dark Knight based?) solid for S1?
Quote from: docmordrid on 05/23/2014 05:16 pmI assume this will expedite a decision on possibly using an ATK (Dark Knight based?) solid for S1? Orbital already knows that it has to replace NK-33 with something after 2016 or thereabouts. That something could be RD-181 or solids or something else. This test failure doesn't change anything in that regard. - Ed Kyle
It would be interesting to see how much damage the test stand received during this failure.Any chance NASA might release some photo's of the E stand once the engine (sensitive hardware) has been removed?-MG
Quote from: edkyle99 on 05/23/2014 06:11 pmQuote from: docmordrid on 05/23/2014 05:16 pmI assume this will expedite a decision on possibly using an ATK (Dark Knight based?) solid for S1? Orbital already knows that it has to replace NK-33 with something after 2016 or thereabouts. That something could be RD-181 or solids or something else. This test failure doesn't change anything in that regard. - Ed Kyle Assuming the engine cannot be repaired, and Orbital/ATK would like continual service to ISS, it moves the deadline closer by a few months.
Quote from: LouScheffer on 05/23/2014 07:56 pmQuote from: edkyle99 on 05/23/2014 06:11 pmQuote from: docmordrid on 05/23/2014 05:16 pmI assume this will expedite a decision on possibly using an ATK (Dark Knight based?) solid for S1? Orbital already knows that it has to replace NK-33 with something after 2016 or thereabouts. That something could be RD-181 or solids or something else. This test failure doesn't change anything in that regard. - Ed Kyle Assuming the engine cannot be repaired, and Orbital/ATK would like continual service to ISS, it moves the deadline closer by a few months.My understanding is that Aerojet had some excess NK-33 engines that could be assigned to this first contract if needed. - Ed Kyle
Officials say the test started at 2 p.m. Thursday. About 30 seconds into the planned 54-second test, the rocket engine used in the Antares launch vehicle first stage "terminated prematurely, resulting in extensive damage to the engine."Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/05/23/5596901/no-one-injured-in-hot-fire-engine.html#storylink=cpy
So, did they have a root cause for this nailed down before the ORB-2 launch?